From the Bookshelf of RMFAO (Reading My Frigging A** Off)…

Ready Player One (Ready Player One, #1)

Ernest Cline

Start date: January 5, 2018

Finish date: January 31, 2018

Discussion: Buddy-Reads

Discussion leader: Heena Rathore Rathore-Pardeshi

Why we're reading this: January 2018 Buddy Read
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What Members Thought

Aug 14, 2014 Alejandro rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: humor, manga, politics, magic, military, dystopia, video-games, romance, espionage, novel

WOW !!! (Pun intended, if you what I meant ;) )

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory meets The Big Bang Theory meets TRON (raised to the nth power (TRON, I mean)).

The most clear appealing to read this novel is obviously the insane quantity of geek references, mostly to 80's era (and some of 70's too), so it is most likely that people who aren't geek (don't worry, nobody is perfect) may be feel alienated and/or not interested to read this book.

However, since "geek" is the new black these days, s ...more

233 likes · Like · see review

Feb 12, 2015 Richard rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: coming-of-age, adventure, scifi-fantasy, dystopian-apocalyptic-fiction

Once I started reading Ready Player One I got totally sucked in. I mean, who could resist such an awesome premise? Time and pages just flew by and my mood rose every time I picked the book up. Now that's a conundrum because multiple times throughout the book I cringed at some of the writing. Cline's desire to impress the reader with his vast knowledge of 80's pop culture got in the way at times, constantly stopping the story to drone on and on for three pages about some random video game or movi Once I started reading Ready Player One I got totally sucked in. I mean, who could resist such an awesome premise? Time and pages just flew by and my mood rose every time I picked the book up. Now that's a conundrum because multiple times throughout the book I cringed at some of the writing. Cline's desire to impress the reader with his vast knowledge of 80's pop culture got in the way at times, constantly stopping the story to drone on and on for three pages about some random video game or movie. And although, I am familiar with a lot of this stuff, it still seemed to go on for a while, with some of it not having any impact on the story whatsoever. For example, why have an entire chapter of characters arguing about the quality of Ladyhawke and not have it affect the story? It would have been really cool for Wade to eventually have to use his unpopular knowledge (that no one else would have) of Ladyhawke to gain the advantage in the game and make this chapter important, but instead it just sits there as a missed opportunity. And there was a lot of really pedestrian writing throughout the novel, like repeating pieces of dialogue or ideas throughout the book, as if Cline forgot that he wrote about the exact same thing a few chapters before.

And there are also awkward, repetitive exchanges like this:

"It looks just like Rivendell," Aech said, taking the words right out of my mouth.
I nodded. "It looks exactly like Rivendell from the Lord of the Rings movies," I said.

Why have I spent most of the beginning of this review harping on the negative stuff you ask? Well, because I wanted to stress how impressive it is that Cline, despite all of these issues, managed to make my wide-eyed, whimsical self grab my critical self, shake him and say, "Stop being a hater and a boring party-pooper, Richard, this book is awesome!" It's so imaginative and filled with great ideas, like the stacked trailer parks (how great of a visual is that?), and the creative rules within the OASIS itself. There's such a joyous sense of adventure, a celebration of geekiness and friendship, and a true love for the material that is laced into this book that it's pretty difficult not to look at any shortcomings and say, "Screw it, let me jump on this ride, strap in and have a total blast!"

I would recommend this to anyone, so buckle up, forgive the shortcomings, and get ready for a lively and captivating summer read! ...more

32 likes · Like · see review

Aug 17, 2012 Steve rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, audio-book, read-in-2015, science-fiction, ya

Ready Player One is set in the grim future of 2044; economic collapse and energy shortages make life unbearable. In this dystopian future, most people spend their days connected to the OASIS, an online virtual world where people can forget their troubles and be whoever they want to be while exploring thousands of exotic planets. Several years before the story begins, James Halliday, the eccentric creator of the OASIS who was obsessed with the 1980's of his youth, dies, leaving behind a message t Ready Player One is set in the grim future of 2044; economic collapse and energy shortages make life unbearable. In this dystopian future, most people spend their days connected to the OASIS, an online virtual world where people can forget their troubles and be whoever they want to be while exploring thousands of exotic planets. Several years before the story begins, James Halliday, the eccentric creator of the OASIS who was obsessed with the 1980's of his youth, dies, leaving behind a message that the first person to solve his cryptic riddles and find a hidden Easter egg he's left in the OASIS would win his huge personal fortune and control of Halliday's company, Gregarious Simulation Systems.

Our hero, Wade Watts - Parzival, as he's known in the OASIS - is an 18-year old who has only known misery in the real world, but has spent five years hunting Halliday's Easter egg and mastering every bit of obscure 80s trivia he can find to try to solve Halliday's obscure clues. Parzival's friends Aech (mentor and best buddy), Art3mis (rival and love interest), Daito and Shoto (a pair from Japan working as a team) are also gunters (as the egg hunters are known), and become his friendly competition.

The competition comes from Innovative Online Industries, led by the ruthless Nolan Sorrento. IOI and their hordes of corporate lackeys known as Sixers are also looking for the egg, so that they can rule the OASIS and "monetize" it properly. Monthly fees, advertising everywhere, an end to the guaranteed anonymity of the OASIS - it would be an end to life as Wade's generation knows it, and IOI will stop at nothing to reach the egg first.

The novel is filled to the brim with 80s references from film, television, video games, D&D modules, books, music, and more, and anyone who grew up in that era will appreciate many of them. Cline does a great job of explaining them so that even if you don't have the trivia mastery Parzival does, you can keep up, and he makes it entertaining. I was born in 1965, and my first video game system was an Atari. In an interesting twist (to me, anyway), I grew up in Columbus, OH, (where the second half of the book takes place), and now live in Oklahoma City, OK, (where the first half of the book takes place).

As exciting as the adventures in the OASIS are, Cline does a great job of keeping the action in the real world important. The heart of the book is Wade's story and his personal growth and the struggle to juggle his quest for the egg and the need to survive and make personal connections in the real world.

The Audible version was simply outstanding. Actor, writer, and super-geek Wil Wheaton narrates the book, and he does a fantastic job. His characterization of Wade/Parzival and his friends and rivals really makes the story come alive. It's obvious that Wheaton loves the material as much as Cline does, and he perfectly renders all the movie quotes and classic video game sound effects of the era. I cannot think of another audiobook narrator who could nail the Pac-Man death "bwoo-woop" like Wil does. This is one of those rare combinations of book and audio narrator that really adds another level of enjoyment to the experience.

Ready Player One is one of the best books I've read this year, and it has definitely put Cline on my radar as an author to watch. I heartily recommend Ready Player One, and if you are an audio book fan, definitely listen to it and enjoy Wheaton's fantastic performance. ...more

17 likes · Like · see review

Aug 21, 2017 Vikas rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Wow-what a ride through this ode to the pop culture, now I just hope that the movie is this good. I have been very late getting on to this book but that's true for a lot of the books so as not to worry I hope to read all my books one by one.

This story is set in the year 2045 when the world has largely run out of oil and war has left most of the world uninhabitable. Our protagonist who is an orphan lives in stacked trailers like most of the urban poor and like most of the population, he spends h ...more

9 likes · Like · see review

Sep 19, 2013 Stephanie Swint rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

I love this book in so many ways. The hype is justified. Those who recommended it to me I owe a debt of gratitude to. Now that I have gushed and gotten it out of my system... for the most part, I have to do my part and tell others to drink from the fountain. Truelly, it is a great book, but you do have to love pop culture, sci-fi, gaming, movies, and TV to get the most out of it. I have friends who would not enjoy this but the sci-fi fantasy geek in me couldn't love it more. I'm not a gamer, so I love this book in so many ways. The hype is justified. Those who recommended it to me I owe a debt of gratitude to. Now that I have gushed and gotten it out of my system... for the most part, I have to do my part and tell others to drink from the fountain. Truelly, it is a great book, but you do have to love pop culture, sci-fi, gaming, movies, and TV to get the most out of it. I have friends who would not enjoy this but the sci-fi fantasy geek in me couldn't love it more. I'm not a gamer, so if you havn't picked this up because you thought you would miss out on too much if you aren't one, I'm here to tell you that you should still enjoy it if you have love for any of the other things listed above. Also, you will get a lot of the references if you have a basic reference for computers and gaming.

Wade is a high school kid who lives in "The Stacks"(a futuristic version of a trailer park.) He is not blessed with a loving family or wealth but through his own survivalist insticts and intelligence has gotten by on his ability to fix computers and Oasis software. The Oasis is an online community where almost everyone spends their time since the real world is less than desirable to spend any time in. There are limited jobs, limited fossil fuels and resources, and mass pollution. Wade and everyone else is competing to find an easter egg in the Oasis. This egg is a ticket to inheriting the wealth of the Oasis's creater who died.

It's more complicated and gripping than what is listed above. I love the scoreboards top five, our main characters. The book explores the effects of living in a fantasy world and not living in the real world. It also looks at evil corporations taking control of all facets of life and technology, big brother, and ineffectual government. Sounds dark. It isn't really. Its terribly funny. I finished it and immediately listened to it a second time. I listened to it on Audible and the narrator is Will Wheaton. No one could be more appropriate. I thought for a moment it could have been Shatner, John Cusack, or Matthew Broderick but by the time I finished it I decided that truelly Will Wheaton is the ultimate choice, did the book perfect justice, and added to it. All I can say is enjoy! ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Dec 30, 2012 Nats rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This was a tough one to score. I was going to give it 4 stars because the first 20% was a little slow - pages and pages of telling. I stuck to it, promised that it became ten types of awesome, and it did.

Every dorky thing that I loved as a kid was rolled into one sweet novel. I wouldn't say you need to have been born in the 70s, although I was initially convinced that Halliday would be my husband and I if we morphed into one person. It's extremely visual and would make an amazing film. This isn' ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Dec 20, 2011 Nayan Patel rated it really liked it

Shelves: recommendedbyothers

One word to describe this book: "Geeky" (with a capital G)

This book is about a dystopian future where the world has exhausted most of its resources and almost everyone tends to spend their time in the utopian virtual world OASIS. The creator of OASIS has bequeathed all his inheritance to the person who is able to find "THE egg" that he has hidden somewhere in this labyrinth.

I was completely blown away by the first half of the book and really liked the research that the author had done about the ...more

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Feb 03, 2018 Sojan Jose rated it it was amazing

Whoo. Almost 400 pages in a single go. That's something even by my standards.
Just wanted to get this done before the movie gets out. Geeks, 80's, Pop culture and The girl. This book was totally my thing ❤️ ...more

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Feb 02, 2017 K.R. Patterson rated it liked it

I have to be honest, I have no idea why this was rated so high. It's like a middle grade book (reminds me a little bit of the Percy Jackson series) with a lot of swearing so in that sense it seems inappropriate for middle graders. However, this is the first three star book that I have finished in a while. I don't know why, but I kept wanting to listen. It wasn't bad, I just didn't care enough about the stakes, or gaming, or the 80s. But they're obviously a lot of people who do! ...more

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